Monday 30 June 2014

Kiplingcotes Chalk Pit and the Hudson Way

It was my first visit to Kiplingcotes Quarry YWT Nature reserve today. The site is a site of scientific interest and is a disused quarry. Chalk was extracted to be used in the embankments of the Hudson Way between Beverley and Market Weighton. It took me a while to triangulate it, as the entrance is not visible from the road, just from the path of the railway line, but after parking on Kiplincotes station and returning I managed to find it. Thanks to my slow driving while trying to find the site I managed to get some photos of a Little Owl right on the edge of the reserve, and not far from it a pair of Grey Partridges, which made for a very good start of the morning. It was still quite overcast, but in my little walk on the Hudson Way, a disused railway line, Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites and Large Skippers were active.
 There were some young warblers (not sure if Chiffchaff or Willow) on the hedges. I heard a male Chiffchaff sing nearby.
 By the time I got to the reserve the sky was starting to clear up and it was quite warm. Hundreds of butterflies were present, with some bramble bushes and a couple of patches of creeping thistle teeming with Marble Whites, Ringlets and Meadow Browns. Elsewhere in the reserve there were active Large Skippers, Small Heath and Common Blue and I saw a single Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral too, taking it to eight species of butterfly present. There were also several day-flying moths, Cinnabar, Six spot burnet, silver Y and a Bordered Sallow (thanks to Chris @VerwoodGarden for ID).
 At some point a Red Partridge started to call, that, the butterflies, the calling grasshoppers and the vivid memory of the the Little Owl sighting made me feel like I was in Spain.
Little Owl
Grey Partridges
Marbled White on Pyramidal orchid
Ringlet
Willow or chiffchaff young?
Common Spotted Orchid
Male Large Skipper

Swallow
Mullein
Rabbits and wild pansies
Yellowhammer, one of two males singing in the reserve

Wild pansy
Marbled White and 6 spot burnet
Yellow Rattle
6 spot burnet
Bordered Sallow moth, Pyrrhia umbra, also feeding on bramble
Robin's Pin Cushion
Cinnabar moth
Mating large skippers
Stonecrop
Pisaura mirabilis, Nursery web spider with nursery
Male Common Green Grasshopper
Meadow Brown feeding on Selfheal
Marbled White
A bit battered Male Common Blue
Small Heath feeding on Eyebright. This was the first time I saw this species of butterfly. It rests with wings closed and leans to one side to face the sun, some times almost resting on one side.

Marbled White and Meadow Brown on Creeping thistle
Common Blue
Silver Y feeding on Meadow Cranesbill
More information
YWT site. Here.
NBG site with information on the flora and fauna of the reserve. Here.
Hull Valley Wildlife group site. Here.

Bird list
  1. Blackbird
  2. Blackcap
  3. Blue Tit
  4. Bullfinch
  5. Buzzard
  6. Carrion Crow
  7. Chaffinch
  8. Goldfinch
  9. Great Tit
  10. Grey Partridge
  11. Linnet
  12. Little Owl
  13. Long-tailed Tit
  14. Magpie
  15. Red-legged Partridge
  16. Robin
  17. Skylark
  18. Swallow
  19. Whitethroat
  20. Woodpigeon
  21. Wren
  22. Yellowhammer

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